Domes - Our Monthly Newsletter
Dunbar UCC
June 17, 2007
I Kings 21:17-21a
A Summer Garden
- Our reading this morning is a story about a king named Ahab. His neighbor, Naboth, had a vineyard right next to the palace grounds -- but Ahab wanted it to plant vegetables. In that region, people grew beans, cucumbers, lentils, onions, leeks, and garlic. The King had thousands of acres, but he wanted Naboth’s land. The problem was that this land was in Naboth’s family for generations, and he wouldn’t sell it for anything. So, respectfully, he had to say “no” to king Ahab.
- The king was used to having whatever he wanted, and he didn’t know how to deal with this. He went to his wife, queen Jezebel and cried : “Naboth won’t sell me his vineyard, and I’m so upset.” Jezebel said, “Hey! Who’s the king here? Who has the power? Cheer up, I’ll take care of it.” And what do powerful people and governments do when they can’t get what they want legally? They lie. So Jezebel wrote a letter to the elders of Naboth’s village and said that she had two witnesses who heard him cursing God and the king. In the Hebrew Scriptures that was a crime that was punished by stoning to death. So the citizens of Naboth’s village dragged him to an open place and killed him. Then Jezebel said to her husband: “Happy Father’s Day! Naboth’s vineyard is all yours. Now go plant your summer garden.”
- Ahab didn’t know that none of us -- even a king -- even a president -- even the most powerful country in the world -- none of us can steal and murder and get away with it. So God sent his messenger, the prophet Elijah, to Ahab, and said, “Tell Ahab this: “Have you killed, and taken what isn’t yours? Well then, thus says the Lord: In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, dogs will also lick up your blood.”
- This story is the Bible’s version of karma. The law that each of us reaps what we sow. Whether we’re stealing our neighbor’s property, or a large oil field from a small country, no one gets away with anything.
- When Jesus sent his disciples to preach, they had only one sermon: “Repent.” As long as we’re alive, we can always ask God to help us find the right path -- the path of loving our enemies, and our neighbors and ourselves. If we follow Christ, that’s the only way there is. And if we don’t realize that we’re going down the wrong road -- don’t worry -- in some form, God will send Elijah to us. Whether he comes as Martin Luther King Jr., or Gandhi, or as Jesus Christ. We’re never far from God’s messengers.